Mardan set to be declared power theft-free city today

ISLAMABAD: The efforts to curb power theft have started paying off. Mardan is going to be declared a theft-free city today (Wednesday) by the Ministry of Energy. Attached with it is a reward for the citizens: there will be no load-shedding from now onward as long as power theft remains at zero level. Mardan had been facing power outages of more than six hours a day.

Situated around 50 kilometers from the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mardan was among the worst performers, as power losses there were reported around 56%. But with coordinated efforts of different departments, the losses have been brought to less than 8% in a span of two months whereas theft has been curbed 100%, according to the ministry officials.

For now, two cities of Pakistan have been chosen for a pilot project in terms of zero power theft and both of them earlier ranked among the worst performers. Other than Mardan, Mirpurkhas from Sindh will also be inaugurated as a model city in a couple of weeks with zero theft and zero load-shedding. A countrywide crackdown on power theft started in September after the public came out on roads due to inflated electricity bills.

Although, such initiatives were taken in the past, the ongoing operation is unique in terms of operation, as it is being done with full interagency cooperation. Right from the district administration to police, FIA and revenue officials are at the beck and call of the power distribution companies in taking action against the culprits.

Federal Secretary Rashid Langrial regularly holds a two-hour meeting on zoom with chief executive officers of all power distribution companies to give the update of operations, the challenges being faced in order to take immediate decisions for making this campaign a credible and result-oriented initiative of the federal government, according to an official who is privy to details.

The government initially faced tough resistance, as the culture of power theft was normalized and protests against the theft-curbing measures as well as recovery of outstanding dues was a routine matter. This was being done with the connivance of officials of power distribution companies.

For Mardan city alone, not only 48 teams were formed to arrest theft on 17 feeders of the city, staff from other districts were also moved there in order to make this a successful operation.

A network of influential people of the area and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) was broken through inquiries and dismissal of corruption elements.

As many as 14 Pesco officials were suspended and eight were transferred out of Mardan. Rapid FIRs were registered against those involved in theft and on-spot arrear collection was carried out.

In order to make this initiative sustainable, citizen monitors were appointed for not only reporting theft to Pesco but also for lodging complaints of areas facing load-shedding. This helped in reducing losses which are projected to be less than 8% by the end of this month. The financial loss has been reduced by 85%, according to the official data.

For future purposes, the government is deploying Aerial Bundled Cables (ABC) to eliminate the kunda (direct connection) system used in narrow streets.

The city has as many as 2,600 meters, the reading of which is done manually. They are being converted to AMR (automated meter reading) meters. In addition, one window customer service is being set up to facilitate the consumers.